1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to safety devices for firearms, and more particularly, to a hand held tool for facilitating the safe removal of live cartridges or bullets from the magazine of a lever-action rifle or similar firearm.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A lever-action rifle generally comprises a magazine holding several live cartridges or bullets. When it is desired to remove the cartridges, i.e. unload the magazine, each cartridge must be placed in the firing chamber in sequence before being ejected by the action of the lever through the breach of the firearm. This is an inherently unsafe situation because when a live round is in the firing chamber before being ejected the possibility exists for an accidental discharge. Accordingly, there is a clear need for a method and means for unloading the live cartridges in the magazine of a lever-action rifle or the like without first sequentially indexing each round through the firing chamber of the firearm. The foregoing need is met by the unique rifle unloader apparatus of the present invention and method of using same as will be made apparent from the following description thereof. Other advantages of the present invention over the prior art also will be rendered evident.